In the early morning hours of Friday January 6, 2012, the Dr. John Warner Hospital received a medical call. During the particular call EMT's were responding to, they transported a patient to the city hospital. While the ambulance was on the call, Cencom received another call, and the dispatcher called in Mutual Aid from Heyworth to take the second call. Shortly after the second call, another call came through to 9-1-1, and the dispatcher called out Arrow Ambulance from Farmer City. So 9-1-1 received three different calls in a hour time frame.

The DJWH recently has gone to one ambulance after 9pm, which is why dispatch had to call for Mutual Aid. 9-1-1 Coordinator for DeWitt County Tony Harris explains he and DJWH Ambulance Manager Terrence Hubbard came up with a procedure to follow in cases such as these.

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Hubbard explains the issue they encountered that morning was none of their local providers were notified. He says he has discussed the events of the morning with Harris and Clinton Fire Chief Shawn Milton and Hubbard says because having just one ambulance overnight is new to all the entities involved, some things needed to be worked and feels they have been.

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Hubbard recognizes improvements need to be made to the procedure and he feels it starts with better communication between the different entities.

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Hubbard stresses this is not a normal occurance for the hospital. Hubbard has extensively researched call volumes down to specific hours of the day and feels if something like this situation were to be a common occurance, it would show in his research.

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Hubbard adds have multiple calls out so close together during the overnight hours is something he has rarely encountered in the past.

Harris is looking into the situation at 9-1-1 and will take the necessary steps to rectify the situation.